An address from Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr had everyone on their feet at slain AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche’s funeral on Friday.
Addressing the packed church just before the service ended, in both English and Afrikaans, Hofmeyr said: “If you understand the hate speech of [ANC Youth League president Julius] Malema, you must understand why I cannot enter a stadium named after Peter “kill the boer” Mokaba,” to loud applause.
The minister was more diplomatic in his sermon, noting that “Eugene wasn’t an angel, but God doesn’t save angels”.
But his scripture-filled talk was a small reprieve from the tense and politicised atmosphere of the gathering.
Hundreds of mourners packed out the Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk in Ventersdorp,.
Others from the community started arriving as early as 9am with camping chairs. The manicured lawns outside the squat brick building were a mixture of people dressed in their Sunday best and AWB members in khaki and camouflage uniforms.
A small selection of the gathered press, including black journalists, was allowed inside the avowedly whites-only church after uncertainty earlier whether any people of colour would be admitted.
Police officials were scattered across the town, while police helicopters circled overhead after fears of violent racial clashes.
But despite dire reports of race wars in the international press, no black locals made their way to the church. Trade union Cosatu was reported to have met with township residents in a bid to keep them from the funeral and prevent rising tensions.
‘Where is Zuma’
From early in the morning, Afrikaners from the town, as well as those visiting from nearby areas, gathered at the entrance of the church. Many complained bitterly to journalists, with a particular fixation on Malema.
Malema’s insistence on singing the controversial “shoot the boer” apartheid-resistance song has incensed the local community, who blame the firebrand youth leader for the death of Terre’Blanche.
Extremist AWB leader Terre’Blanche was beaten to death in his home, allegedly by two of his workers over a wage dispute. Terre’Blanche was notorious as the voice of right-wing Afrikaners and was convicted in the past of assaulting his black workers.
“If apartheid died in 1994, what is the use and necessity of singing these struggle songs?” asked one AWB member, Gordon Dickson.
“Where is our president?” some asked of South African President Jacob Zuma.
“He would have had instant friends here if he had only spoken up,” added others.
While some right-wing Afrikaners were hostile, most locals and many AWB members went out of their way to accommodate journalists of colour, pleading with them for understanding. “We are not racists,” one man said. “We just want to protect our people.”
But the conversation often regressed into near-racist ranting. A large group gathered outside the church sang Die Stem, while visiting AWB members unfurled an old South African flag and a sign proclaiming: “Julius Malema is an uneducated arrogant little piece of pig shit”.
After the funeral the swastika-like logo of the AWB was raised high above several vehicles.